Beit Iba, Deir Sharaf, Wed 22.7.09, Afternoon

15:50  The ruins of Beit Iba

We passed the “barrels checkpoint” on the way.  We drove by the soldiers without asking permission, and there didn’t seem to be any problem.  At Beit Iba it felt as if “We’ve come back again, you’re in our hearts, forever in our hearts…”  The sight of “No Checkpoint!” moved us to tears.  We took photographs, and were photographed, on the ruins of what once was a checkpoint (and was it ever a checkpoint!), and is no longer.  I sent the photographs separately.

We drove by Amjad’s kiosk, which was closed, like all the stalls.  Everything is closed as if it were Yom Kippur; only the traffic flows! 

We stopped in Deir Sharaf to say hello to Jamal.  Before that, we saw a new shop.  We entered.  We were greeted warmly, and shown the wonders of the place:  on one side, sweets, including ice cream; and on the other – falafel, humous, etc.  A clean, attractive, well-organized place.  Worth visiting.  We bought something, of course.

We then went to Jamal, and didn’t discriminate against him either. We greeted each other warmly, and said a warm goodbye when we left.  We told him that we probably won’t be back soon. 

16:30  We left.